We caught up with the brilliant and insightful William Spivey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, William thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My Mom was the one that got me into Tennis! It was a family sport so it was natural that I learned, however what is remarkable in particular are the sacrifices that my Mom made to get me and my sister to and from tennis – for a large part of my childhood she was worked a 7 days on 7 days off schedule- 70 hour weeks at the hospital from midnight to morning!

During that same time she went back to college, finished her Doctorates in Pharmacy – with honors and remained always present at tournaments and matches, How she was able to do that all, and the grace with which she accomplished everything is truly remarkable!

My Father instilled a strong sense of justice, toughness, and loyalty, this was an ever present part of his character, as he was worked in some of the most dangerous areas of Durham in the late 90s as part of the Crime Area Target Team (CATT Team). As I have gotten older I have an deep appreciation for the lessons he taught me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In a sense my company created itself, tennis was at first a part time job for me, then became a main job – supported by two other part time jobs, until years later when I was able to work tennis full time. I had done private lessons primarily and was very successful but towards my late 20s it was becoming apparent that 50+ hours of tennis lessons was going to be very difficult to maintain.

So I began to focus on a tennis education system.

Stratified by color coded wristbands that kids wear to their classes we are able to organize and run our programming with exceptional efficiency. Coaches are given small manageable class sizes on average 4:1, and encourage to eliminate lines, making practice fast, fun, and repetitive.

This has been extremely successful, our youth programs have grown 6 sessions in a row, we have had double digit wait-list, and are expanding our offerings going into 2025.

This alongside our tennis teams, tournaments, Pickleball and more have helped us grow in 2024 and develop into an all in one tennis solution. This diversification in revenue streams has the added benefit of allowing us to keep our prices well below our competitors while offering superior services.

By the years end we are looking forward to fully implementing our drop off and pick up option for racket restringing in Holly Springs, Apex, and Fuquay-Varina. This will allow residents of those cities to leave their racket on their doorstep – protected by a Big NC Tennis bag – and have it restrung and returned the following day for only $55.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The first year of my company I had Plantar Fasciitis in both feet, my ACL was torn from an injury from years prior, I had an issue with my hips out of alignment, was on my 3rd steriod shot in my shoulder in less than a year period… I could go on and on but the gist is : I was injured and in physical pain daily.

I remember one day in particular maybe a year and half into my business. I had just recovered from the Plantar Fasciitis, had gotten traction on my hip alignment issue, and was on and upswing when I hyper extended my knee while coaching a lesson.

It was the kind of buckle that I had to stop rallying and finish the lesson early. Driving home was painful and I could hardly put weight on it for the entire afternoon into the evening.

This injury really got to me, just when things felt they were getting better another injury! It was so disheartening that I spoke to my wife that night about going back to college or seeing if one of my friends could get me a sales job. I want to give credit to those friends I reached out to for encouraging me to stay with my business – good friends know when to tell you to tough it out –

After dinner I went upstairs to figure out my next step, I was exhausted from debating this in my head, I had already talked to my friends and loved ones, so I decided to pray.

I’m not at liberty to say what is divine, what is coincidence, or synchronicity but after praying I sat in my computer chair focused on finding a way to repair my knee without surgery.

I found a You Tuber “Kneesovertoesguy” and the first video I watched he said “walk backwards for 5 minutes a day will change your life”- referring to strenghtening and mobilizing knees. I watched a few more videos on lunges and other workouts, but at the moment the only exercise that I could even begin to attempt was walking backwards.

So I spent the next hour walking backwards, the first 10 – 15 minutes my focus was on keeping my balance, but eventually I started to gain mobility, and confidence in my steps and by the hour I was able to walk relatively normal.

In the morning when my knee was locked up and in pain I did it again. I made it a part of every day for a few weeks and for what seemed like another devastating injury in a slew of so many more turned out to be a minor speed bump.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This could be the story of Big NC Tennis as a whole, a constant series of pivots and changes which is funny because when I first started my company the idea of a pivot or change was stressful!

However these have all been a net positive, if it wasn’t for some seemingly disastrous changes we would not have had the opportunity to adjust and improve our fundamentals and so I am happy to say that we are in an great place, positioned for a very successful future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bignctennis.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bignctennis
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bigtennisnorthcarolina

Image Credits

Sarah Ryan “Your Design Strategy LLC- Creator Logo Big NC Tennis